1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of devices for drying hair, and more particularly, to a device especially adapted for extracting water from wet hair surrounding a perm rod disposed in a person's hair.
2. Prior Art
It is well known to style a person's hair by permanent waving. The permanent waving process involves wrapping the hair around numerous perm rods and adding a perm solution to the hair which causes the hair around the perm rods to take a curled set. The hair is then rinsed with water and partially dried before a neutralization step. The prior art drying method involves blotting the hair with towels in order to absorb the water. Towel blotting, which is usually the initial step in any hair drying process, is slow and difficult when drying hair wrapped on perm rods, because the towel cannot be effectively inserted in the confined spaces between the numerous perm rods. Also, drying of the hair is uneven because the towels make better contact with the hair exposed on top of the rods, so that the hair beneath the rods remains relatively wetter than the hair at the top. An improved apparatus and method for drying wet hair wrapped around perm rods is desirable.
A variety of hair drying devices are known. The hair drying devices typically include means for providing a flow of warm air which is directed through a nozzle toward the wet hair. The flow of warm air greatly increases the rate of water evaporation from the hair. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,678,376 to Lockwood; 4,297,564 to Bartolac; 4,309,595 to Long et al.; and 4,602,146 to Barns et al. are examples of hand-held hair drying devices which provide a flow of warm air through a nozzle for increasing the rate of water evaporation from wet hair.
Warm air blowing devices also tend to dry the hair unevenly. The upper layers of hair, which are more directly exposed to air flow, are the first to dry, while lower layers residing closer to the scalp or beneath outer layers of hair remain wet or damp after the upper or outer layers are dry. This problem can be alleviated by lifting up the hair with a brush or comb during the drying process in order to expose all the layers of the hair to air flow, more or less evenly. However, when the hair is wrapped around a perm rod, the method of lifting up lower layers of the hair with a comb is not available as long as the perm rods are in place. The warm air blower type dryers cannot effectively dry hair wrapped around perm rods because the inner layers of hair wrapped around the perm rods are shielded from the airflow by the outer layers and remain wet after the outer layers have dried.
The present invention removes water using a vacuum device which engages over a perm rod together with the hair wrapped on the rod. Hair vacuuming devices are known. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,668,315 to Crosby and 2,753,434 to Storm, Jr. disclose hand-held devices which produce suction for removing hair clippings, dandruff and similar dry foreign matter from a person's hair. These devices have nozzles with protruding fingers which admit air into the suction inlet and also are adapted to massage the scalp for loosening particles while the suction removes the particles from the hair. Neither of these patents contemplates applying suction to the hair for drying purposes, and the nozzles provided with these devices are not adapted to closely encompass a defined body of hair, such as hair wrapped on a perm rod or roller, for drying purposes.
Drying of hair amounts to removing water. When considering the idea of drying an article having a surface, one must distinguish between removing water which is absorbed in the article, water which remains on the surface of the article by surface tension, and excess water which readily flows relative to the article. Insofar as human hair and the like are concerned, hair strands absorb some water and individual strands will retain some water on their surfaces. However, the greater proportion of water in human hair which is wet by a perm solution, rinse water or a similar liquid is either excess flowable water tending to flow by gravity to the lowermost ends of the follicles and to drip off, or is captive water held in the mass of hair by surface tension which holds water between adjacent strands of hair. Adjacent strands lie close enough to one another to define capillary passages which hold the water, and also cause the hair strands to cling to one another. It has been discovered according to the invention that this water held between strands is readily removable by an appropriate form of suction apparatus.
Water or moisture in hair normally is considered to be removable only by blotting or by evaporation, and evaporation can be accelerated by airflow. The present invention provides a device which is especially adapted for extracting water from wet hair wrapped around perm rods on a person's head, i.e., where there is a tendency of water to reside in capillary sized passages between strands. The invention provides a strong suction at an inlet to a housing. The inlet is especially adapted to closely encompass a perm rod for moving air through the capillary passages and overcoming the surface tension which holds the water in place. The invention thus frees water which is held captive along the hair by surface tension by a vacuum applied at the suction inlet and collects the water for reception in a bottle, tank or drain. The vacuum provided at the suction inlet draws air substantially through the mass of hair, thereby extracting the water evenly from all the layers of hair wrapped around the perm rod.